Doordarshan launches new discount scheme to woo advertisers

Facing intense pressure to push up ad revenue of Doordarshan, Prasar Bharti Board has approved a proposal to aggressively woo medium sized advertisers by giving volume discount to those spending between 1 crore and 5 crore.

As per the scheme the discount for spend between 1 crore to 3 crore will be 3% and for spends between 3 crore to 5 crore will be 5%. Beyond this the discount will be offered at the existing rates of 7% for Rs 5 crore to 10 crore and 10% for over 10 crore spends.

Infact the present scheme is an extension of the earlier volume discount schemes under which Doordarshan have been offering discounts to advertisers committing more Rs 5 crore a year with Doordarshan directly. They have been given bonuses, which is not in the form of money or a credit note but in the form of commercial time as a ratio of the paid time. Several big players like Hindustan Levers, Colgate Pamolive, Godrej, Dabur, Emami etc have all benefited from it.

Doordarshan has improved upon this schemes to include medium sized advertisers because ad sales bosses realised that the scheme was benefiting only the big spenders, while a number of potential medium sized and emerging brands were getting left out because they were not able to commit more than Rs 5 crore. Consequently these advertisers were lured away by Doordarshan's rival channels like Zee, Aaj Tak, Sony and Star TV.

The timing of the decision is quite crucial for Doordarshan as it comes just before the telecast of ICC Champion Trophy on Doordarshan in September. Infact Doordarshan faces a challenge to market this mega sports event as Sony Television will also be bringing live coverage of the ICC Champion Trophy. However DD's marketing mandarins are upbeat that the timely introduction of volume discount schemes for medium sized advertisers will contribute significantly to maximise their commercial revenue.